Candor: Getting To What Matters

Candor: Getting To What Matters

Takeaways

“Lack of candor in business blocks smart ideas, fast action and good people contributing all they’ve got. It’s a killer.” Jack Welch

Developing Candor and Trust

What it Means

The absence of candor is the single biggest roadblock keeping companies from being effective. Candor, that is, an open culture of frank, sincere and exhaustively honest talk, breaks through political bias and gets to the heart of what really matters. It means surfacing and sharing information broadly and transparently, giving the real reason for decisions, rather than spinning each message to suit a different audience, and most important of all, always letting team members know where they stand.

Why it Matters

·         Candor builds trust.

·         Candor gets more people in the conversation, and when you get more people in the conversation you generate richer ideas.

·         Candor generates speed. Ideas can be debated rapidly, expanded, enhanced and acted upon when everyone has the same information.

·         Candor breaks through office politics. It eliminates the time team members spend jockeying for position, vying for attention and using information to increase their own power.

·         Candor cuts costs.

·         Without candor, team members have little idea where they stand in terms of their own performance.

Action Plan

How Candor and Transparency Build Trust

Behind candor is transparency and authenticity. A transparent culture invites everyone into the game and fosters an openness that builds self-confidence and trust, not to mention improves the speed at which an organization can move. It allows people to share information openly rather than hoarding it, allowing for faster action. As a leader, it will help you set the tone for your team and enables you to give credit where it is due by letting people know where they stand and how the business is doing.

Your Starting Point

It’s simple—candor unclutters.

As you start to think about your organization, your team and your own personal behavior, you will quickly realize how unnatural it can be to speak your mind at all times. This section will prepare you to develop this trait by guiding you through some concrete action steps.

1.      What factors can lead to a lack of candor and what happens when that occurs?

2.      How candid and transparent is my organization? Do managers, leaders and team members speak honestly and openly with each other as a matter of habit?

3.      Do my team members trust me to tell them the truth and to be honest when I deliver news regardless of whether the news is good or bad? How do I know?

4.      When I catch myself not being candid with someone, do I stop to ask myself why not? What is motivating my lack of transparency?

5.      How would I feel if I found out that my boss was not being candid with me about my performance or in responding to ideas that I had about building our business?

6.      If I could change one thing to promote more honest and open dialog among my team, it would be?

Quick Wins

·         Start by acknowledging your own mistakes (and yes, we all make mistakes!). Be the first one to step up and publically say, “I messed up and this is how I’m going to fix it.” And do it consistently—yes, you will have more than on opportunity. When your team hears you talking openly about something that went wrong, and was your fault, it clears the path for them to do the same.

·         Do what you say you’re going to do.

·         Seek help when you need it. This shows that you, like anyone else, can’t do everything on your own all the time. This might not seem like an obvious display of candor, but it demonstrates that you trust that your team members to stop and show support. It sends a clear message that you’re all in this together, and that you expect them to do the same when they need help.

·         Don’t confuse practicing candor with being abrupt or abrasive. This is not an excuse to be rude or humiliate co-workers in public. You should aim to practice candor in the warmest, most humane, most respectful way possible.

·         Resolve that being less than truthful is not an act of kindness; it’s an act of cowardice.

·         Demonstrate candor in the next meeting you lead by praising the team members who clearly speak their mind.

·         Talk about it. Tie it to a value in your organization. Make it a part of your culture that will be recognized and rewarded. Discuss the benefits of candor and transparency with your team and the processes you want to start using. Be consistent and be repetitive. Don’t assume that everyone will just pick it up.

Establish a “Candor Model”

Having a model and common language around the behaviors you are trying to instill in your team can add substance to the process. Models help people articulate where they are in solving a problem and set expectations that open issues must actually get resolved and not just “sit out there” indefinitely.

The candor model: “surface, debate, improve, decide” – isn’t just an advantage; it’s a necessity.

Surface

Surface

When you see something that looks or feels wrong, make a point to address it publically. Acknowledge that there is an issue that has been identified and that needs to be fixed.

Debate

Get the discussion on the table. Review both sides and don’t assume that one side is right. Encourage competing points of view on what’s not working and why.

Improve

The purpose of having open candid discussions is to move things to a better place, not to assign blame. Always keep things focused on what needs to be done to make it better.

Decide

Don’t get caught in a never-ending debate cycle. Make a decision on the best approach and move on. Great leaders have “edge;” the ability to make tough decisions.

Game Pages

Candor: Getting To What Matters

Developing candor and trust doesn’t just happen because you’re the boss and you say so. It is a process that you have to lead and infuse into your organizational culture in a structured way. How much time it takes depends on how clear and consistent you are in your messaging and how much you see the example yourself. But it can be done. In fact, if you’re going to create a winning team—it must be done!

Candid Discussions

Surface

Issue to be resolved (clear summary statement of the problem):

Key data to be discussed (past actions and outcomes):

Specific improvement options (choices with pros and cons listed):

Decision on action steps (including timelines, owners and resources needed):

Team Survey

Lack of candor

Withholding comments or criticism (for each: circle where the team is on the spectrum)

Keeping mouth shut to make people feel better or avoid conflict

Sugarcoating bad news to maintain appearances

Hoarding information

Bureaucracy, layers, politicking, false politeness

Decisions being made behind closed doors

Candor in Action

Straightforward communication

All views on the table

Talking about the world realistically

Ideas being debated from every angle

Honest performance appraisal

Many people involved in the conversation

What two areas are the best to focus on?

1:

2:

Five tactical items to start creating a culture of candor, transparency, and trust

1: ______________________________________ Owner: _____________________ Due Date: ______

2: ______________________________________ Owner: _____________________ Due Date: ______

3: ______________________________________ Owner: _____________________ Due Date: ______

4: ______________________________________ Owner: _____________________ Due Date: ______

5: ______________________________________ Owner: _____________________ Due Date: ______

Business Relationships That Last: 5 Steps to Transform Contacts into High-Performing Relationships

Business Relationships That Last: 5 Steps to Transform Contacts into High-Performing Relationships

Takeaways

You will learn to: 

•Achieve your quotas and goals by identifying, measuring, and proactively advancing your most important business relationships 

•Internalize a five step process for advancing each business relationship, transforming your business Acquaintances into Professional Peers and ultimately, Respected Advisors

•Launch new business relationships with confidence and ease

•Understand how your customers’ Relational GPS—their goals, passions, and struggles—will help you create relationships that last

•Develop an action plan that allows you to apply what you learned to your existing client opportunities

Business Relationships That Last: 5 Steps to Transform Contacts into High-Performing Relationships

What it Means

What is Relational Capital?

“Little things make big things happen.” John Wooden

Relational capital is the distinctive value created by people in the business relationship or the little extras. This is the principle of worthy intent, which is the inherent promise to keep the other person’s best interest at the core of your business relationship. 

Why it Matters

Success is not a secret

‘My business is built on relationships!’

The CEO of most major corporations 

Few companies actually create specific strategies for its professionals to use to develop and strengthen the relationships required to achieve its revenue and profit objectives. This leaves a gap, a “relational gap,” in the execution of a company’s well-planned strategy.

Action Plan

Many companies develop a strategy to generate revenue and profit through a series of carefully planned processes. Most often these processes include a company’s vision, mission statement, strategic plan, budget, operational plan, and list of objectives. Business leaders have performed quite well on the operations side of their businesses through process improvement, re-engineering, and detailed planning. While this exhibits mastery on the operations side of their businesses, there is little more at this point that leaders can wring from their operational efficiencies. Ultimately, the company must close the gap between all of these operational efficiencies and the need to generate revenue. Strategically planning to develop outstanding business relationship is the way to bridge this relational gap in a highly competitive environment that is already saturated with similar products and services.

Today’s competitive climate requires a step change from the comfort zone of a show and tell approach to the solutions-oriented approach, with its three relationally centered goals. First, the relational approach truly focuses on understanding and knowing the people you’re working with and putting their best interests at the forefront so that they are comfortable collaborating around business issues with you. Second, it requires tailoring your responses to the prospective client’s real needs. Third, it leads the client facing professional and potential client to create solutions together that uniquely address these needs.

Your Starting Point

To start to improve your most important business relationships, you first need to identify them. Take a few minutes to think about the actual existing relationship that make up your constituent profile. Place yourself in the middle and imagine being surrounded by the groups of people you have relationships with.

   

                                                       

1.      Who are your five most important business relationships that will help you achieve your revenue and profit objectives?

2.      Now, from your list of five business relationships describe how they can help.

3.      Reflect on your objectives for the next 12 months and pair them with your five business relationships.

These five most important business relationships that you need to invest in to achieve those objectives are referred to as your ”Fab 5.”

Essential qualities: credibility, integrity, and authenticity 

“Today is your day; your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” Dr. Seuss

Your credibility, integrity, and authenticity constitute the essential foundation upon which to build relational capital in the business world. These qualities impact how you are perceived and valued, and their convergence results in the relational attributes that attach to you in every business relationship.

Many business people perceive these qualities to be very similar; in fact, some routinely substitute one for the other during discussions. Looking closer, however, we can see that there are important fine distinctions among the definitions of each term. And there is a distinct order in how each one manifests itself in a business relationship.

Credibility

Credibility is the quality that makes others believe in you, your words, and your actions. Many client-facing professionals make a huge mistake concerning credibility. They ask a question or two and then launch right into how their solution can solve the client’s problem. It is very difficult to fully understand a client’s problem after a few questions. It is almost disrespectful on your part.

Remember, your new client for business contact doesn’t care about your solutions yet. The questions they have at this point are:

•Do they like you? 

•Can I trust you?

•Will you embarrass them?

•Will you come through in the clutch?

Integrity

Integrity is, quite simply, being trustworthy in our actions and character. It is doing the right thing when no one is watching. It is saying what we are going to and then doing it. Integrity is the quality of having honest and truthful motivations for our actions.

Authenticity

Authenticity is about being honest with ourselves and our clients regarding who we are and what we know; it is the quality of being genuine. 

Where does relational capital belong?

Process Makes Perfect

“Electricity is really just organized lightening.” George Carlin

The Comfort of a Routine

Client facing professionals have routines that are important to our sense of being ready to move through the stages of the day’s activities. Most of us don’t feel ready to leave the house in the morning until we have completed such tasks as showering and dressing appropriately, having breakfast, packing the kid’s lunches, taking care of the pets, and so on. We feel a sense of accomplishment by following through on the routine things we have to get done. It’s these kinds of simple checkmarks that give us the sense of achievement, even confidence, that we are ready for the next set of tasks and activities.

The Relational Ladder

Having a similar sense of accomplishment in how we feel about our most important business relationships can also be very powerful and motivating. With this in mind here follows the five steps to transform contacts into high-performing relationships:

1.  Establishing common ground: launch the relationship; 

2.  Displaying integrity and trust: secure in the relationship; 

3.  Using time purposefully: invest in the relationship; 

4.  Offering help: share relational equity; 

5.  Asking for help, realize returns on your investment

Identify Your 5 Most Important Relationships and Related Goals

Enter your five most important business relationships and the relevant objectives and performance criteria that you achieve by advancing these relationships. Please consider key existing or targeted future relationships in your industry and or community that are closely tied your objectives and business networking.

Establishing Common Ground

Moving from just meeting someone to a committed business relationship begins to happen only when your client shares a goal, passion, or struggle; until that time, your relationship is in an acquaintance dimension. An acquaintance is a person you know but are not particularly close to. In business, just as in our personal lives, we seldom share much about ourselves with people we consider to be acquaintances. 

Displaying Integrity and Trust

Professional Peer

The professional peer dimension is the level where you should strive to place and maintain the majority of your business relationships. At this level, do you prefer here, with no sense subservience for hierarchy in the relationship.

Offering Help

“Significance comes from helping others.” Lou Holtz

Respected Advisors

Once you are clearly displayed integrity in a business relationship and earned a person’s trust, the path is clear for you to be even more authentic, to feel completely comfortable being you. Authenticity—in other words, simply being yourself—goes hand-in-hand with advancing to the highest dimension of relationships. Being authentic is essential if you are to emerge from being a professional peer with a client to being perceived and treated as a respected advisor.

Discovering Your RQ

Game Pages

Transfer your “Fab 5” and why they are on your list to achieve your revenue and profit objectives.

Relationship #1

Why?

Relationship #2

Why?

Relationship #3

Why?

Relationship #4

Why?

Relationship #5

Why?

Creating and Sustaining Your Action Plan

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Peter Drucker

Actualizing Your Plan—A Continuous Process

Your action plan cycle should demonstrate the perpetual nature of the steps involved. Each cycle of the assessment, action planning, and measuring improvements is an opportunity to renew your commitment to putting into practice the principle of worthy intent and topics discussed with credibility, integrity, and authenticity. Everything else flows from these; nothing happens without them.                            

    

Action Plan Template

Relational Capital Lite